By Theresa E. Beverly
When we hear the words white supremacy, we usually think of a white person who believes white people are superior. But what happens when a Black person begins to believe the same thing?
I call this The Black Face of White Supremacy.
I am not talking about a Black person who has white friends, works with white people, or holds opinions that differ from other Black people. I am talking about something deeper: a Black person who has internalized the belief that whiteness represents a higher standard of intelligence, beauty, respectability, success, or human worth.
For such a person, an “atta boy” or “atta girl” from a white person may become the highest form of validation. White acceptance becomes proof that he or she has finally “made it.”
Here lies the painful contradiction.
The white supremacist essentially believes, “I am superior because I am white.”
The Black Face of White Supremacy may believe, consciously or unconsciously, “White people are superior, so their acceptance proves my worth.”
They stand on opposite sides of the racial divide, yet both have accepted the same false premise: that whiteness is the standard by which human worth should be measured.
Scholars have described related ideas as internalized racism or internalized racial oppression. When people repeatedly receive messages suggesting that another group is more intelligent, attractive, successful, or worthy, some may eventually begin measuring themselves and others by those same standards.
There is nothing wrong with receiving praise from a white person or respecting people of another race. The problem begins when white approval becomes more valuable simply because it comes from a white person.
Our worth does not require anyone else’s certification.
Perhaps one of white supremacy’s most damaging accomplishments is not convincing white people that they are superior, but convincing some Black people that they are inferior.
If that belief can be taught, it can also be unlearned.
We can respect people of every race without placing another race above ourselves. We can value cooperation without seeking racial validation. And we can teach our children that their intelligence, beauty, dignity, and humanity do not depend upon receiving an “atta boy” or “atta girl” from anyone.
There is a difference between seeking equality and seeking acceptance from people we have been taught to place above ourselves.
One is dignity.
The other is dependence.